Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Rick Mast #1 Majik Markets Oldsmobile

    Today, I'd like to discuss a car that really just makes no sense, Rick Mast's #1 Majik Markets Oldsmobile~ Why does it not make sense?~ Well, Rick Mast never drove this car~ He did run a Majik Markets car for 2 races in the BGN series, but it was a #0 car, not #1~ Basically what Racing Champions did was, they had a lot of  his Cup cars already made up, so instead of putting the "Precision Products Racing" logos on, they instead put "Majik Markets" on the car, leaving the number the same~ I'm a little bit mad about that, but heck.. try and find a pic of Mast in the #0 Majik Markets car.. it's impossible~ So, this is what we've got~

    Since this is supposed to be a BGN car, I will just give a quick rundown of Mast's BGN career, and save his Cup stats for a later car~ Mast started his first career BGN race @ Richmond in the 1982 running of the Eastern 150, where he finished 3rd, driving for Alan Dillard Jr.~ He ran 11 races that season, with 2 top 5's, and 4 top 10's~

    His first full season on the circuit came in 1985, where he had 5 top 5's, and 15 top 10's, again driving for Alan Dillard Jr.~ That season, Mast ran the #'s 2,22, and 44 periodically~ He was getting closer to victory, finishing 2nd 3 times~ His 1986 campaign was much like the previous season, with 2 top 5's, and 13 top 10's~ Mast ran the #22 all season long~ In 1987, Mast was solid, winning his first career pole in the Budweiser 200 @ Dover, and picking up back to back wins in the Grand National 200 @ Dover, and the Nationwise 150 @ Martinsville~

                                                                  Rick Mast's Cup car~
Rick Mast #1 Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR diecast blog

    Mast was strong again for the 1988 season, winning the Pennsylvania 300 @ Nazareth, and the Poole Equipment 150 @ Rougemont, while netting 5 top 5's, and 13 top 10's  for the season~ For 1989, Mast won the pole for the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 @ Myrtle Beach, and the Winston Classic @ Martinsville, and won races in the Granger Select 200 @ Nashville, and the Old Milwaukee 200 @ Dublin~

    He finished the season with 2 wins, 2 poles, 9 top 5's, and 13 top 10's~ His best season came in 1990, where Mast won the Jay Johnson 250 @ Bristol, the Autolite 200 @ Richmond, and the NE Chevy 250 @ Loudon, while also winning the pole for the Zerex 150 @ Martinsville~ He finished the season with 1 pole, 3 wins, 8 top 5's, and 10 top 10's, while finishing 10th in the points standings~ This would be the last season that Mast would win a race, as well as his last season running the full BGN schedule~

    He skipped the entire 1991 BGN schedule, and ran 11 races the 1992 season in a #0 Oldsmobile~ His first run in the Majik Markets car also came during this season in the Hardee's 250 @ Richmond, where he started 14th, and finished in 6th~ He then ran the Atlanta 300 @ Atlanta with the sponsor, where he started 7th, and finished 16th, 2 laps down~ These were the only races ran with Majik Markets on the car~ Mast ran 5 races in 1993, with 3 top 10's and a pole @ Richmond in the Hardee's 250~ He ran his last career BGN race in 1998, driving for Jimmy Spencer in the #12 Zippo Chevrolet, where he rolled off 9th, and came home 10th in the Pepsi 200 @ Michigan~

                                              Rick Mast #1 Majik Markets Oldsmobile~
Rick Mast #1 Majik Markets Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR die-cast blog BGN Skoal
                                                               Click pics to enlarge~
Rick Mast #1 Majik Markets Racing Champions 1/64 NASCAR die-cast blog BGN Skoal


    I really have 2 main problems with this die cast~ The first being that the car was never the #1 while being sponsored by Majik Markets, and the other being that I can't find any pics of the actual car.. for all I know, the car could have been a different color as well, and Racing Champions just put the Majik Markets logo over his Skoal Classic paint scheme~ I'm not sure if that is true or not, but there isn't any way for me to find out, as there are no pics on the internet of the car from those 2 races~

    I tried to find the races on YouTube so I could see the car, but even the races have been forgotten over time, as there are no videos of them to be found~ Other than those 2 things, the car is nice looking~ I've always found it funny how Racing Champions would make die casts of cars that only ran a race or 2.. but that's also one of the reasons I love them so much~

    I always used to root for Rick Mast as a kid, and hoped one day I would see him win a Cup race~ Sadly, that never happened~ Many accused Mast of saving his car too much, being too afraid to get up there and really compete.. and that may be true~ Whatever the case, Mast was able to have a solid and lengthy career in the Cup series, as well as in BGN~ On January 22, 2003, Mast retired from NASCAR racing at the age of 45, due to carbon monoxide poisoning~ Below are a couple of videos from Mast's career~ Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by~

                                                         1991 Diehard 500 Mast flip~

                                             Rick Mast segment on NASCAR Race Hub~


                                                   Bob Grebe's Virginia - Mast profile~

                                               1991 Valleydale Meats 500 Mast spin~

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